Technical aspects of quality assurance for intravitreal injections (IVI)

Background Successful quality assurance in intravitreal injection (IVI) of medications requires a complex information technology infrastructure. The main challenges are data availability independent of location, standardization of clinical data, integration of extensive and currently non-standardized image documentation from coherence tomography and compliance with data protection regulations. Objective In this article the technical implementation and data protection principles are reviewed. Material and methods Essential aspects in the implementation of quality assurance in the field of IVI are discussed in a systematic approach. Results In the field of network architectures web-based applications supplemented by local virtual private networks (VPN) and/or other software instances have recently replaced the previously commonly used physical data medium exchange. The standardization of the data, e.g. by converting the visual acuity into logMAR, plays an important role in the collection of treatment data. Multiple non-standardized data formats in optical coherence tomography complicate the general quality assurance structure and comparability of data. Conclusion International standards will probably facilitate this in the near future. Until then individual solutions have to be found on site.